While citing Wikipedia tends to be unseemly and/or gauche these days, we should take a moment to recognize all women who have vied for the presidency and vice-presidency in this nation. The list is long, but readily visible, and crosses many social differences.
Upon reading this list (linked above), we must acknowledge that credit is not solely due to Susan B. Anthony or Hillary Clinton for giving Americans an opportunity to vote for a woman presidential candidate this year. This list is the product of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of women’s voices across the years, and additionally the product of a constitutional amendment. It doesn’t even account for the impact of women in Congress or other bodies of our government, federal, state, and local.
Furthermore, we must also note that the divide in the votes last night were not strictly between men and women. Trump could not have gotten as many electoral votes as he did without having a varied voting pool. For those who claim then that the decision should be based on popular vote instead, I say that abolishing the electoral college would be a mistake contrary to our founding documents and their intent. The college has been part of our electoral system since Article II of VII in the ratified Constitution of 1788.To paraphrase Dan Rather’s remarks on Facebook earlier today, we must take these results as the verdict of the American people and allow for a peaceful transition, no matter how scary the outcome. In other words, we as an American body show our strength when we can accept our decision and its consequences, rising above to tackle our nation’s challenges together. No matter who won last night, we are together as a nation under a new president.
I argue that perhaps this election and the anxiety thereof speaks to our collective, underlying anxiety of how to proceed as a people into an uncertain future, rather than an anxiety over suppressed feminism. There is a lot more to worry about than the gender of the one who sits in the Oval Office. Alternatively, maybe this anxiety can be useful to us, and can serve to edify our awareness of the world and the USA’s place in it. No matter what, I pray that we will come to a better understanding of our place in history. Each and every vote casted contributed to that history this week. I could not be prouder of those who were not afraid to choose to voice their political opinions, or keep silent. As Americans, we are given the freedom of that right to choose. We are all given the freedom of the right to vote.
I have no doubt that one day we will have a woman president. I am thankful that this doubt does not exist for me in our generation. I am grateful for the women in the earlier years who have fought to give women a voting, participating voice at all levels in this 240-year-old nation, compared to many older nations which did not make the same advances until we set that example. Thanks to their efforts, we women are resonant citizens in this nation of immigrants.
As such, maybe we could refresh our mindset, taking this part of the naturalization oath to heart in our citizenry:”I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.” This is the promise of allegiance made by every new American citizen – I hope I keep that promise faithfully in the years to come.
(These comments were first published by the author on Facebook, on the morning of 11/9/2016.)
SunflowersWords 